Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible RHE
New Revised Standard NRS
1 Then Eliphaz, the Themanite, answered, and said:
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Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2 If we begin to speak to thee, perhaps thou wilt take it ill; but who can withhold the words he hath conceived?
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"If one ventures a word with you, will you be offended? But who can keep from speaking?
3 Behold thou hast taught many, and thou hast strengthened the weary hands:
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See, you have instructed many; you have strengthened the weak hands.
4 Thy words have confirmed them that were staggering, and thou hast strengthened the trembling knees:
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Your words have supported those who were stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees.
5 But now the scourge is come upon thee, and thou faintest: It hath touched thee, and thou art troubled.
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But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed.
6 Where is thy fear, thy fortitude, thy patience, and the perfection of thy ways?
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Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?
7 Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent? or when were the just destroyed?
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"Think now, who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?
8 On the contrary, I have seen those who work iniquity, and sow sorrows, and reap them,
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As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.
9 Perishing by the blast of God, and consumed by the spirit of his wrath.
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By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.
10 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the whelps of lions, are broken:
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The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions are broken.
11 The tiger hath perished for want of prey, and the young lions are scattered abroad.
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The strong lion perishes for lack of prey, and the whelps of the lioness are scattered.
12 Now there was a word spoken to me in private, and my ears by stealth, as it were, received the veins of its whisper.
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"Now a word came stealing to me, my ear received the whisper of it.
13 In the horror of a vision by night, when deep sleep is wont to hold men,
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Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on mortals,
14 Fear seized upon me, and trembling, and all my bones were affrighted:
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dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake.
15 And when a spirit passed before me, the hair of my flesh stood up.
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A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh bristled.
16 There stood one whose countenance I knew not, an image before my eyes, and I heard the voice, as it were, of a gentle wind.
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It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice:
17 Shall man be justified in comparison of God, or shall a man be more pure than his maker?
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"Can mortals be righteous before God? Can human beings be pure before their Maker?
18 Behold, they that serve him are not steadfast, and in his angels he found wickedness:
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Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error;
19 How much more shall they that dwell in houses of clay, who have an earthly foundation, be consumed as with the moth?
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how much more those who live in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth.
20 From morning till evening they shall be cut down: and because no one understandeth, they shall perish for ever.
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Between morning and evening they are destroyed; they perish forever without any regarding it.
21 And they that shall be left, shall be taken away from them: they shall die, and not in wisdom.
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Their tent-cord is plucked up within them, and they die devoid of wisdom.'
The Douay-Rheims Bible is in the public domain.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.